Bitesize Treats iPhone app: a review

It's no secret that I'm into cute. Frills, flounces, buttons and bows, if it's pink and dainty, I find it irresistible.

Same goes for small versions of things - babies, kittens, miniature ornaments and cocktail food. Why have a slice of quiche when you can have a mini-quiche with a baby tomato on top? WHY?

When asked to review this adorable app, I said yes in about negative 2.3 seconds. For many reasons.

1. Bitesize Treats. Treats. Bitesize. Sold!

2. It is based on the Hardie Grant bestselling book Bitesize: 50 Macarons, Cakepops and Cute Things. (Cute Things... #winning)

3. I had just upgraded to an iPhone 4 and I was interested to see how this would work.

4. I am an iPhone app freak. I have pages and pages of them which I refuse to put into folders, because I love them all and want to look at them. They're organised in groups, but I won't hide them. The icons themselves are cute! 

5. I am a cooking app conoisseur. The flour stuck in my earpiece and random greasy butter smears all over my phone are testament to my new-found addiction to recipes on-the-go.

6. I love reading. It's a rare day indeed that I do a straight review, but I am happy to promote books, reading and cooking. To anyone. Anytime.

Macarons! Cake Pops! Cupcakes, oh my!

I have to say, I wanted to make just about everything as soon as I opened the app. That right there is a good sign.

The photography and food styling is gorgeous... everything looked so enticing.

Ok, back up - what? Blueberry mojito? In popsicle form? Genius. When the weather is warmer these will be the first on my to-do list. Mama needs a summer treat. Anyone wanna join me?

I've never made churros before - I suck at piping and I don't deep-fry anything, really. Except pickles. Everyone should make an exception for deep-fried pickles. And anyhow, I cheat and shallow-fry, which I'm fairly sure can't be done with churros. However - chili chocolate sauce should never be overlooked in such a manner. And I like that I can favourite this recipe and make the sauce for something else.

The ingredients tab of each recipe are helpfully accompanied by a plus sign, which when clicked, will add the ingredient to the shopping list section of the app. 

The method tab also has boxes for you to check when you have completed a step. When I was younger, I read a tip that if you put all your ingredients on the left side of your bench, when you're done with it you move it to the right side, so you always know where you're up to. Being able to check off as I go, even though the recipe is on my phone, is incredibly handy for me as I've now got to abandon recipes partway through to prop up a slumping Veggie Baby, or stop the cat trying to sit on her head, or collect her if she's woken early from her nap. I'm likely to forget my own name these days, so having this as an option is a winner.

The shopping list function is exceedingly useful, as I take my phone everywhere, including the supermarket. I love that its organised either by aisle (dried herbs and spices/packaged goods etc) or by recipe. Once you have put the item into your cart, you check the box and the item moves to the bottom of the list. No more confusion and getting home to find you missed the ginger because it was sandwiched in between the celery and vanilla extract on your list and once you collected them you stopped looking at that section.

 And if that wasn't enough, there is even an oven timer, which is great for busy and/or forgetful people like me. Who cook by instinct and only remember something in the oven because all of a sudden it kinda smells like chocolate brownies with a tinge of burning.

The app is available from iTunes, and is priced at $4.49. For more information, you can go here.

If you want a blueberry mojito popsicle, you can come to my house.

*I was given a free app to review. That's all, folks!

Homemade Sausage Rolls

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Sometimes there is just nothing cuter than a guy in love. I'm such a sap that when I hear or see people being kind and generous to their special someones, but what gets my heart a-melting is when he or she is proud of their partner. I feel sorry for anyone Veggie Dad has cornered on a club-going Friday night, tipsily detailing everything I've ever done as if it is the second coming of cheesus.

A staunch veg friend of mine emailed me recently with a recipe he wanted to pass on from his girlfriend. "All props to her, I'm just the middleman", he says. My heart melts. How sweet that he took the time to send me something I might like because his girlfriend made it and he was so enthused by what she'd done he had to share.

I posted a picture on both Instagram and Twitter when I was done, and was immediately awash with people wanting to know how to make it. I knew it would be a hit! I love a good sausage roll, but they can be very dodgy, and veg ones are no exception. This one, true to most recipes like this, looks and sounds like a drunk three-year-old randomly dumped the ingredients into a blender. However, it works. I don't know how, but soldier on - the end results justify the means!

Here is Tara's recipe - and if you make it, let me know how you go and I will pass it on! Thanks Tara <3

INGREDIENTS:

3 eggs
1 cup cottage cheese
½ cup crushed walnuts
2 ½ tabs. Soy sauce
1 medium onion
1 ½ cups breadcrumbs
1 ½ cups rolled oats
1tsp dry vegie stock
2 tbs. Grated Parmesan cheese
3 sheets frozen puff pastry

METHOD:
1. Blend walnuts, eggs, cottage cheese, onion and soy sauce together.
2. Mix rolled oats, breadcrumbs, seasoning and Parmesan cheese together. Add blended mix.
3. Cut pastry sheets in half and spoon a layer of mixture down the middle of each sheet.
4. Roll up the sheets and seal with milk.
5. Cut each roll into four and brush with milk or melted butter.
6. Place on a greased tray (I just used baking paper) and bake at 180 degrees Celsius fan forced for about 30 minutes.




Enjoy!

I Died at Lord of the Fries

Figuratively, obviously. Or I wouldn't be here, entertaining and inspiring you all with my witty ramblings and delicious food...

I was in Melbourne for one day recently for Blogopolis. Not knowing where or how or what, or if it was even possible, I demanded Veggie Dad take me to Lord of the Fries... I was sick of seeing my Melbourne friends tweeting about it and not getting any myself. Do you know how damn hard it is to get a decent veg burger where I'm from?

GAH.

Anyhoo, after a lot of Google Mapping on the Skybus after the plane to find out the location of the Holy Grail in relation to our hotel, it was decided. Post-Blogopolis, I was going to make Lord of the Fries my bitch. And I did:

Every time I see their Twitter bio, I sing Faith No More songs in my head ALL DAY.

I was that excited I ordered a Mega Meal Deal AND a side of nuggets. I am disgusting. The Big Mark burger called my name, and when I got home and ate it I cried with delight at their generous pickle-giving.

The uber-fun part was deciding which sauce to eat on my fries... American, Belgian, Indian, Parisian, Thai, Vietnamese, African, Asian, French Canadian, Italian or Mexican? There was a thousand people behind me and I felt the familiar panic of wanting to try them all but having to hurry up and choose because people are waiting and ahhhhhhhhhh oh my god quick which one oh dear sweet baby cheesus lord in heaven I don't know "I'll have the Thai please". It happens often. But eating satay sauce on fries doesn't (at least not in my world), so I figured I'd try. Phew. Glad I did.

But then they asked me what kind of sauce I wanted on my nuggets.

*****

It just so happened that I sat next to the cutest girl in the room at Blogopolis and she offered to get me coffee. I fell in love on the spot and followed her on Twitter. She happened to see my Lord of the Fries tweet, and happened to tell me she did PR for Lord of the Fries and happened to tell me she had some free burger vouchers for my readers should they happen to want some.

I have five vouchers to give away, and if you want one, just leave a comment here and tell me what damn sauce you would have chosen, had you been me umming and ahhhing and holding up the queue. First five in, best burger dressed.

*Disclaimer: I received a VIP card to Lord of the Fries to get discounts for the rest of this year in amongst the vouchers for readers. Cool, huh? Just another reason to move to Melbourne..........

Wonton soup for you!

I was that freak wandering up and down the streets of Melbourne CBD recently looking at all the places that may or may not sell soup. Specifically wonton soup. The sad part was, it was about 7am and apparently places that sell wonton soup in the CBD have this thing were they don't open at that hour of the morning. I know! I couldn't believe it either. I wanted that soup so bad.

The community in which I live is more "let's surf for three days straight then get a beer and some chips", as opposed to "where would you like to eat tonight dear? Malaysian? Korean? Italian? How about some Ethiopian?", which I have to say is much more my style.

It's usually left to me to make whatever it is I'm craving, because it just doesn't exist where I am. And now that Veggie Baby is on board for the ride, it's not as easy to pop to Brisbane or somewhere similar for the day to get my fix. It's much more of a production and she wouldn't like the soup anyway, so it's back to the kitchen I go.

With my head full of wonton soup needs and my chest full of cold and/or flu, shit was about to get serious if I didn't make this soup a reality. I needed that soup like a flower needs the rain, like a poet needs the pain, like I need a new simile.

Not having any meat in the soup makes it a bit tricky flavour-wise, but with a good stock and plenty of onion, garlic and ginger, anything is possible. This soup filled my requirements, and when I posted a picture to Instagram, I even had people from the US demanding to be flown in to eat it. Trouble was, I wasn't going to share my soup with a single soul. NO SOUP FOR YOU!

Except if you make it yourself...

Ingredients:

For the soup:
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled
2 red or green chillies, roughly chopped
a thumb-sized piece of ginger, peeled
2-3 coriander stalks
6 cups water or stock or a mixture of stock and water (be careful with the soy if you use stock)
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup ketjap manis
Salt and pepper
carrot, spring onion and bok choy sliced thinly, fresh corn kernels
extra coriander for garnish

For the wontons:
1 packet wonton wrappers
1 clove garlic
6-8 field mushrooms, minced
1 small carrot, cut into very small cubes
a splash of soy
a few tablespoons of ketjap manis, enough to moisten the mix
1 teaspoon cornflour

Directions:

1. Process onion, garlic, ginger, chillies and coriander root in a food processor until mush. You could alternatively use a mortar and pestle to crush.

2. Fry this off in a little oil for a minute or so. Add your liquids and sauces.

3. Bring to a boil and then simmer while you make the wontons.

4. For wontons, fry the mushrooms, carrot and garlic in a little oil until soft. Add sauces and sprinkle cornflour over, stirring to combine and slightly thicken.

5. Lay out your wontons and spoon a teaspoonful of mushroom mixture into the centre. With your finger, run a little water around the edge and then fold in half, sealing the edges tightly. You can scrunch them up or fold the corners together to make neat little wontons.

6. Either cook your wontons in the soup gently with the extra vegetables (carrot, etc) 3-4 minutes until all are cooked. If you're a purist (some people don't want the flour on the outside of the wontons to mess their soup up), cook them in boiling water before adding to the soup.

7. Check for seasoning and adjust to your taste. Add coriander and any other garnish. Fresh chilli would be good.

8. Serve immediately. If there are going to be wontons left over, I would freeze them immediately and put them into the soup to reheat later. I wouldn't cook them and leave them in the soup or it will go all mushy and awful and you will curse me until your dying day. I can't have that!

Where in the World is Veggie Mama?

Over here. At Cupcakes Frocks and Pink, pouring a cup of tea and chatting with the delightful Mrs Kypo and her painfully pretty blog. Come and join the conversation!

Dark Mint Spanish Hot Chocolate

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It was a sunny mid-semester afternoon and I was meeting an American friend for coffee. I had randomly sat next to her in our local courthouse a few weeks earlier, both of us there to cover stories for our News Rounds class. I was nervous as hell, and always had visions of being stalked outside the courtroom for scribbling notes about the trial by the defendant's angry family. I saw a pretty, perky blonde with a notepad and cute shoes and sank down next to her gratefully, whispering "I think I'm here for the same thing you are!". She smiled and we bonded over our mutual love of Sweet Valley High books. She was bold and confident, on exchange from her beautiful big college in Pennsylvania. I was jealous.

A week later she popped up in my Forces of Change in International Politics class. We swapped numbers. Little did I know, it was the start of something seriously awesome.

So this day we decided to forgo coffee and headed straight to the new San Churro nearby for some hot chocolate instead. I had the dreaded less-than-$20-so-can't-get-cash-out-from-an-ATM student syndrome, and I was told at the counter I they had a $10 maximum spend when I went to order my Classic Spanish. The sad fact was, I had less than $10, too. I mumbled not to worry about it, and something else ridiculous, like I'd live off the fumes of my American friend's. She giggled. I died.

Anyway, we sat down and before I could pester her with millions of questions about my obsession with American food, she took a sip of her chocolate.

"Oh," she said.

"Oh my".

I was intrigued... I watched the viscous chocolate ooze back into its place in the mug every time she finished sipping. I barely heard anything she said. I needed this chocolate for my very own.

So I went home, and in true food-obsessed starving student fashion, I made my own.With a random Lindt Easter bunny I found in my refrigerator. And now you can too!

Ingredients:
1 cup milk per person
1 teaspoon cornflour per cup of milk
4 squares Lindt Mint Intense dark chocolate per cup of milk.

Directions:

1. Put milk and cornflour into a saucepan and whisk to combine. Heat over medium heat until chocolate just boils, stirring regularly.

2. Add the chocolate, broken into small pieces and whisk until blended. It will get deliciously thick and you will be the envy of all your friends.

*Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with Lindt... it was mere randomness that I never ate Easter eggs and had one rolling around in my fridge that I originally made this with. It was so good that I've never used any other chocolate. This time it happened to be mint. You can choose whatever flavour you want. I have not received anything in return for this post.

YUM!!

winners are grinners!

Ok, it's taken me ages to choose a winner for the caption competition. It's not because I went to Blogopolis, or because I came home with tuberculosis pneumonia a sore throat and have been moaning about like a complete sook, but because they were all so good!

I read them. I read them again. I asked the advice of Veggie Dad, the cat and the postman. Nobody could agree. I LOLed at SawHole's entry: "I could take Wendi Deng". I so could. Veggie Dad was championing Lori's "And do the.... Madonna, Madonna, Madonna, and.... spirit fingers!!!!!!". Bern's Jersey Shore-esque "Come at me bro" had me giggling - I absolutely saw myself as Ronnie in a wedding dress on the boardwalk smacking an overly-tanned guido in an Ed Hardy shirt and too much hairgel.

But in the end it came down to the simplest and most stuck-in-my-head-est. That honour goes to Miss TutuAmes with her "I'm too sexy for these gloves" entry. To this day I don't know what I was thinking wearing a dress that showcased my assets like a stripper (except for the fact the dress was only $150), though at the time I didn't think they were that bad. Until just about everybody mentioned them, including the female security guard at the reception. Oops. So I ended up bringing the sexy to the wedding when what I actually was going for was elegance... hence the gloves.

Miss Ames - I WAS too sexy for those gloves.

email me with your address and I'll post off your card ASAP.

Thanks for playing, y'all!